Six Degrees LA

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CFO and one of the owners of Bok Bok Chicken. We’re a Mediterranean fast casual restaurant group based in Las Vegas.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees LA?

We needed to hire a firm to do an entire branding and visual identity package.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees LA was responsible for creating everything from the logo to the letterhead to the whole corporate identity. The process started with a meeting with myself and a couple of partners from the restaurant. We had a long conversation about the business, our goals, and our story. They asked us questions that we hadn't even thought of, and made us realize things about our business. They took detailed notes on how we want to tell our story to our customers. In terms of the look and feel, we brought our architect to the meeting so that they could share the initial direction we'd taken with interior design.

Six Degrees LA created a calendar of each step and when we could expect each item. They came back to us with four options for the logo, packaging, and branding. They presented a full inspiration package with visuals, including renderings from our architects to show how the branding would look like throughout the restaurant. Once we chose the option that we liked, they created other assets like letterhead and business cards. For the menu, we ran through each item and they offered suggestions on how to change the copy to sound better. They helped us think about how to market our menu while staying true to our brand identity. They also designed and built our website.

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with Julie (CEO, Six Degrees LA) and Josh (chief creative officer, Six Degrees LA). We also worked with a few other people on copy and marketing. They also brought in a photographer to do a directional art shoot to create visuals for the marketing materials.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees LA?

We took meetings with several firms. Six Degrees LA stood out because they’re full service. Most firms could do some aspects but not others, while Six Degrees LA provides the complete package. Julie and Josh told us at the initial pitch meeting that they’d be involved in the entire project. Having that level of executive engagement was also really attractive. They also had a number of restaurant clients in their portfolio, which we appreciated.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The main project took place from November 2017–March 2018. We’ve gone back to them for additional projects. They're currently doing a full redesign of our menu because we added new items. We plan to use them regularly for the next couple of years as we grow.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Their brand identity gets a very favorable response. We really appreciate having a consistent brand across social media, the website, and the physical restaurant. Customers can see that there’s thought behind the imagery. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve this level of consistency without Six Degrees LA.

How did Six Degrees LA perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is great. They’re so responsive. They always delivered exactly when they said they would. They're also open to criticism and changes. If we threw them a curveball, they handled it well were always respectful. They did a great job handling our project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was genuinely impressed with their commitment to giving us exactly what we wanted. They weren't married to their ideas. They’re very open to finding a solution, even if that means blending different ideas together. They was no ego involved in working with Julie and Josh. They’re entirely customer-focused, which was great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. I was worried at first about seeing a return on our investment, but they surpassed all my expectations. Any worries went out the window in our first meeting because it was clear that their brand identity concepts were excellent. I can't think of anything that they could do differently to give a better experience for the customer.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the managing director of a real estate development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees LA?

We wanted to make our project cool and on-trend.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees LA gave us branding advice. They worked on our logo and website and helped us develop some marketing collateral.

Initially, we met together several times, and they helped me formulate the inspiration and concept of our brand. They helped me put together the development and design team. They helped to keep everybody working towards the goal in keeping with the brand concept that Six Degrees had generated for us.

What is the team dynamic?

I worked with both Josh [Chief Creative Officer, Six Degrees LA] and Julie [Owner, Six Degrees LA].

How did you come to work with Six Degrees LA?

I had previously worked with a branding agency in the past, but Six Degrees specializes in food and hospitality, and they have a reputation for having a good pulse on what is cool. I originally found out about Six Degrees LA through word of mouth.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $150,000—$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2016, and the work has been ongoing with a variety of projects since our initial engagement.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Everyone that we have shared the materials with really loves them, and we get many compliments on them.

How did Six Degrees LA perform from a project management standpoint?

Anytime we have given them a project, they get it done. They are incredibly responsive, and we communicate via email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their response time is impressive, as well as their general intuition and confidence. They really grasp what we need, they are on-trend, and they are not obtuse. Occasionally, with other firms, it has been a challenge to describe what I have wanted. With Six Degrees, they really understand what we need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I love them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the marketing director for a small multi-unit restaurant group in San Francisco; however, I am no longer with the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees LA?

Our restaurants themselves had pretty good identities; however, the overarching company didn’t have a strong identity. We were looking to create a new logo and new website splash page to help brand the overarching company, separate from the restaurants.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees started by identifying what the group brand was. We didn’t have the budget for a full branding session, but they dug in on what the company's founder’s personal values and aesthetic were. They grasped what was important to him, and what we wanted to be reflected in the new logo. The company had never used a branding company before.

We wanted something that was handcrafted and a little bit soulful, almost evoking the founder’s place when he had been a chef. A lot of inspiration came from there. Six Degrees came back to us with a selection of logos. We then went through a second round, really digging deeper on the handcrafted, artistic vibe we were looking for. Ultimately, we selected one logo, and they were great in fine tuning that logo. The owner, as a chef, was very specific with what he wanted to see. It was very personal for him that the logo perfectly reflected how he wanted it. Six Degrees was really patient and fantastic in making sure that all of the tiny details in this very handcrafted logo were perfectly balanced to his eye, and reflected what he was specifically looking for.

After the logo was created, they designed an amazing splash page, which was far more than we had ever asked for, or had even budgeted for. It features wonderful, hand drawn illustrations that really reflect the brands and the values of the founder.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked directly with Julie Priceman [CEO, Six Degrees LA]. All of their designers worked on the project, and their creative director, Josh [Chief Creative Officer, Six Degrees LA], was heavily involved as well. One of their graphic designers created the logo we liked the best, and he was the hands-on contact.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees LA?

I know Julie from Six Degrees, which is why we decided to work with them on this project.

How much have you invested in them?

The total cost was between $10,000—$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Six Degrees in mid-2016, and the project was completed in November 2016.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We have received really great feedback. People were really inspired by the design and liked how well it reflected the founder’s aesthetic. This was the first logo the company had ever had, and it definitely had an impact.

How did Six Degrees LA perform from a project management standpoint?

Six Degrees was great. We mostly used phone and email, and it was a relatively simple project. They were very organized, and more organized than we were. They were really responsive in helping us stay on track, they made sure we were moving forward with the project, and had patience when we weren’t moving on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was really impressed by the creative effort they put into the project. They were really understanding of the restaurant industry. I was also impressed with their willingness to dig deep on a chef’s weird aesthetic to really represent what we were doing. They didn’t just give us another corporate restaurant logo, but instead something that was really personal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was really impressed with this project, and they were incredibly patient with us.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Black Angus Steakhouse. We currently operate 44 steakhouses in six different states. We’re predominantly in California, but we also have locations in Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees LA?

We have a concept that’s been around a long time. Black Angus started in 1964, so we’re over a 50-year-old company. When I came in about three years ago, we needed to address a number of issues both operationally and from a marketing standpoint. Internally, we needed to upgrade the product that we were serving and we needed to upgrade our facilities. We had been working with the same marketing company for about 15 years.

As I looked at the current business and steakhouse environment, I thought it was important that we widen our awareness to a broader audience. When I came on board, the majority of our customers from a demographic standpoint skewed on the older side, ages 45 and up. We had very loyal customers, but as that customer base gets older, I realized that we needed to begin targeting consumers in the 30-50 age range. Our marketing department wasn’t where it needed to be, so I changed all of the personnel and went with a new agency, Six Degrees LA. I wanted somebody that could take a brand that’s been around for 50 years and give it a fresh look. That’s how we initially got engaged.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I asked Six Degrees to look at rebranding the entire company, almost like a complete refresh. Six Degrees came in and put together a brand image package for us to get us more focused on what the positive attributes are within our brand and how we can enhance those. They basically became my marketing department and did all of our new design work. They redid our website and completely redesigned our menus and menu layout.

I encouraged them to be a little more tongue-in-cheek with our advertising. My guidance to them was if they could put a piece together and it made me laugh, then it’s good. We went in a completely different direction than the old tried-and-true kind of way. We tried to have a little more fun and be more playful in our messaging. They’ve been great.

What is the team dynamic?

I have a new chief marketing officer that works primarily with Julie [Priceman, Owner, Six Degrees LA]. She probably has a team of about 10 people. It’s a smaller boutique company so we’re pretty informal about communication. Julie mostly deals with our chief marketing officer but I speak with her quite frequently. If there’s an idea or if there’s some confusion, I tend to be the one to shed a little light in the right direction.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees LA?

I had worked with Julie Priceman, their CEO, in the past at the Patina Restaurant Group. She was the head of marketing for that company and I was the head of operations. After I left, Julie left as well and started her own company. I was the COO for Benihana for about five years and she did a little bit of work for us there. My wife is also in the business and I introduced her to Julie who did a lot of work for Morton’s Steakhouse and Del Frisco’s, both of which my wife was the president for. She also did a lot of work for Wolfgang Puck.

Her team is very creative. They produce great messaging and great photography. One of the big changes we made was to have more natural photos on our website and menus, as opposed to the composed plates that look like Denny’s ads. Since I knew Julie had started her own shop, I asked her what she would do with our brand and she came back with a lot of good ideas. I fired my old company and hired Julie. She’s been our main outside marketing team for the last two and a half years.  

How much have you invested with them?

Our annual budget is probably $400,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in September of 2014 and our partnership is ongoing. They are our primary design and media people.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve been able to get a lot of press. We’ve probably had more press in the last year and a half than we’ve had in 20 years. From a sales perspective, the combination of Julie’s work and the way we upgraded our operations and quality has led to positive sales which is rare in the space of upper-end casual dining. We are probably within the top three or four restaurant chains in the country that has experienced increases in our same-store sales. Our accounts are up and our sales are up. We are driving business and the number of companies we can call competitors are few and far between.

How did Six Degrees LA perform from a project management standpoint?

We try to map out what we want to do for the year. We do two menu rollouts a year and we do continuous updates to our website and our messaging. We have five or six different LTO's [limited time offers] over the course of the year. We do special menu items and Six Degrees does all of the design and photography. We lay out all of those items as projects that we put on a calendar with drop-dead dates. We try to be way ahead of the calendar.

Julie uses a software that keeps everything on track and we have our own internal tools to make sure that we're hitting creative deadlines. Julie and my chief marketing officer work hand in hand in terms of the project management.

What do you find most impressive about them?

Julie is a top-notch marketing person. She’s as good as anyone I’ve ever worked with which is why I hired her in the first place. She has a very strong team. The folks that work for her are very creative. When I give them my perspective or vision for the company, they are able to take what I say and deliver a product that is spot on. They’re timely, they're professional, and they’re very good at design. I also like the fact that they’re small. They’re not dealing with 1,000 clients, so we get the TLC that I prefer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m more than satisfied with them. There is no necessity for me to go anywhere else because they’ve been performing for us for two and a half years. They do solid work. I don’t have anything negative to say about them.